1. Field of the Invention
The present application concerns a fixing device, especially for panels.
The present application is more particularly, but not exclusively, concerned with a fixing device designed for mounting decorative lining panels to the interior of automobile vehicles. The problem is to be able to fix onto a supporting first panel integrated into the structure of the vehicle a lining panel, made from plastics material or skai, for example, using a fixing device comprising a male part and a female part, the female part being attached to the support while the male part is mounted on the lining panel.
Such panel mounting devices are of obvious utility in other sectors of industry.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fixing devices of this kind are known from the prior art, specifically from U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,428 in the name of the Japanese company NIFCO. The device comprises a male part having an elongate body extending between a mounting head on which the panel to be fixed is mounted and a retaining head and a female part having a receptacle for the body with at least one circumferential sector for retaining the retaining head axially.
In the NIFCO device the retaining head is spherical while the female part comprises three axial retention sectors defining a substantially circular passage the diameter of which is less than that of the spherical head. The male and female parts are made of plastic, the plastics material being chosen so that when the male part is inserted into the female part the spherical retaining head pushes apart the circumferential retaining sectors and is then accommodated downstream of the latter. This is, in fact, a snap-fastener type mounting.
The present invention is concerned with an improvement on the NIFCO device intended to make it simpler in structural terms and stronger in terms of its resistance to axial forces exerted on it tending to separate the male member from the female member.
The structure briefly described above is such that if an axial withdrawal force is applied equal to that applied during mounting to snap the male part into the female part, the male part can be separated from the female part. In some cases, however, it is desirable to have a device offering greater resistance to traction forces tending to separate the male part from the female part.